Sustainability
as part of our corporate responsibility.
The fifth sustainability report from Klüber Lubrication.
2020 report, includes lubricant specialist documents to showcase the successful development of its sustainability program.
FOOTPRINT
By footprint we mean the approach we take in order to constantly improve or reduce our usage of energy and resources. We do this mainly through the selection and efficient use of suitable raw materials – including renewable ones – for our products and through the reduction of energy and resource consumption in our own value-added chain.
Acting sustainably at our sites is just as important to us as improving the sustainability balance of or customers. Therefore, we have set ouselves the goal to increase our share of electrical energy generated from renewable sources like wind or the sun to 50% by 2025. Step by step we will be shifting to green energy, as the following examples show:
Green Energy
Our production site in Austria is supplied with energy by a regional hydroelectric power plant and thus ensures power supply with green energy.
E-mobility
For the transport between our production site in Munich and our warehouse in Maisach, we use zero-emission electric vehicles and expanded our infrastructure accordingly.
Photovoltaics
At our site in Mexico we use solar energy provided by our own a photovoltaic system. Thus, we achieve a substantial emission reduction amounting to 200 tons of CO2 per year.
We are also committed to green energy at other locations: A further photovoltaic system is now in operation at our Indian production site. In Munich, we are now almost completely supplied with electricity from an external photovoltaic system via our supplier.
HANDPRINT
By handprint we mean the actions we take to support a sustainable value creation for our customers. It aims at helping our customers achieve their sustainability goals by providing our solutions and services.
Promote sustainability – ensure opportunities for future generations: more than ever sustainability in the industry is a challenge to companies.
The major challenge is to ensure efficiency and performance and at the same time deal with the environment and resources in a responsible way. For us, these aspects are not mutually exclusive, but can often be realised jointly.
Our speciality lubricants are the result of intense research and development activities performed to comply with the requirements of the future: As highly engineered and innovative solutions of increased efficiency they exactly match the requirements of our customers.
Our specialty lubricants generate positive effects, as they:
- reduce frictional resistance
- reduce emissions
- save natural resources
- show improved environmental compatibility
- minimise costs for disposal and recycling
- extend the service life of machines
- reduce operating costs
With our know-how we provide support to customers from approx. 20 industries and market segments including, for example, the automotive, cement and food-processing industries. We provide our customers with comprehensive service and advice and always keep an eye on environmental aspects, security of supply and resource conservation.
The following examples show how our products achieve success in terms of sustainability:
Wind power industry
Speciality lubricants extend the service life of wind turbines, thus reducing the wind energy production costs significantly and improving our customer’s competitiveness vis-à-vis other energy resources.
Cement industry
By using one of our speciality lubricants, our customer InterCement in Brazil succeeded in substantially reducing resource consumption and at the same time increasing the service life of his machines.
Hydro Lubricants
Our lubricants using water as a functional constituent show extremely low friction coefficients and improve workplace safety at the same time.
KlüberEnergy:
Our service contributes to optimising the energy efficiency of machines and plants.
SUSTAINABILITY SCORECARD
To improve the footprint and handprint along the life cycle of our products, we use our sustainability scorecard in product development.
The challenges entailed by a sustainable company management and orientation are a motivation for us to create highly engineered innovative processes and solutions for the future.
Speciality lubricants based on mineral oils or natural oils normally are no mere expendable materials. They are in fact key components which enable dynamic machines, installations or other components to operate. The design, development or modification of our lubricants and services always includes a comprehensive analysis of all relevant operative processes in terms of their sustainability. Our entire value-added chain is taken into account.
Our sustainability scorecard for innovations is an important step in this process. It considers the life cycle of a product and the intended product features. It assesses our entire value-added chain with regard to:
- raw materials and additives
- processing and production
- packaging
- transport
- benefit for the customer
- waste management
Our footprint and the customer benefit are correlated. If the ratio is inadequate, the product development is normally not pursued.
